Austin’s annual film, music, art and technology conference is back this spring for its 31st year, kicking off on Friday, March 8 and running until the 17th. The festival will bring thousands of speakers, performers, artists, marketers and creatives to Austin, and crowds of tourists from around the world flocking to take part in the experience. The first weekend will open up with the Film, Comedy and Interactive festivals, with the SXSW music festival kicking off on Monday, March 11. The festival and conference conglomerate will also feature a host of art exhibits, gaming conventions, networking events, parties and showcases across all genres throughout the week of SXSW.

INTERACTIVE

At the heart of SXSW is the conference series, featuring an inspiring panel of technology innovators, creative visionaries, politicians, activists, entrepreneurs, journalists and others, each pioneers in their fields. Among the panel leaders of the festival are Trevor Noah, the South African comedian of The Daily Show, U.S. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, rapper and designer ASAP Rocky, artist and musician David Byrne, Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus, president and CEO of Gibson guitars JC Curleigh, four-time Academy Award winner Ethan Hawke and co-founder of the Huffington Post and founder of Buzzfeed Jonah Peretti. Keynote speakers include co-founders of Instagram Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, film keynote director and actress Olivia Wilde, music keynotes Shirley Manson of Garbage and Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches and Interactive keynotes entrepreneurs Roger McNamee and Joseph Lubin. In total, the conference series will feature 13 hour-long keynote sessions and around 100 featured speaker panels over various themes and trends throughout the two weeks of the festival.

FILM:

The film festival of SXSW will span nine days and cover all genres of media from feature lengths, short films, music videos, episodic pilots, animations and more. Jordan Peele’s horror film Us is announced to preview on the opening night of the festival. The Get Out director’s upcoming horror film will star Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as wife and husband who have their beach vacation ruined by a group of strange doppelgängers known as “The Tethered.” Also headlining the festival is The Beach Bum, written and directed by Harmony Korine. The film stars Matthew McConaughey as rebellious beachgoer Moondog and co-stars Snoop Dogg, Zac Efron and Isla Fisher. Booksmart, a film about two studious seniors determined to catch up on lost fun the night before their graduation, is also premiering as is Film Keynote Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut. Taika Waititi’s television reboot of What We Do in the Shadows, the 2014 vampire comedy, is also set to debut in the episodic premieres showcase. The River and The Wall, directed by Ben Masters and starring Mac alum Austin Alvarado, is also featured in the documentary showcase. The film follows five friends who traverse through uncharted Texas borderlands and explore the potential physical and emotional impacts of a border wall. A full list of all of the films featured in the festival can be found at SXSW.com

MUSIC:

Know for showcasing some of the best up-and-coming artists from across the globe, this year SXSW boasts an impressive musical lineup of more than 2,000 artists and performers from more than 60 different countries. Showcases featuring different artists are organized by the festival and are held in a wide variety of local venues, from clubs to churches and parks around Austin. Some showcasing artists include UK-based rapper Flohio, indie-rock group Deerhunter, DJ and legendary Roots drummer Questlove, alt-folk outfit the Strumbellas, psych-pop quartet Crumb, K-pop group iKON, LA rock band Cherry Glazerr, grime MC Novelist, South Korean pop artist CHUNG HA, and arena rock outfit The Amazons, among others that are yet to be announced.

ART:

Along with music and film, SXSW will also feature a host of visual art exhibits and installations during the festival. These interactive and often story-focused installations are the works of artists and art collectives across a wide stretch of diverse backgrounds. EVERYTHING EVERYTIME, the project of Naho Matsuda, uses large mechanical screens to display poetry created out of live data streams that viewers can watch update in real time. Festival-goers can also watch a selfie of themselves be transformed onto a canvas as part of the Hash2ash exhibit, only to dissolve into dust seconds later. Semeion invites participants to explore artificial intelligence through a series of structures that react to human presence through light and sound. Louie Palu’s installation Arctic Passage will be displayed in huge blocks of ice on UT’s Harry Ransom Center plaza, revealing large photographs as they melt. Most of the special events and art exhibits featured during SXSW can be accessed by any badge holder regardless of the type of badge.

BADGES:

Prospective attendees of SXSW have four badge types to choose from: Music, Film, Interactive and Platinum. The Music, Film and Interactive badges each cover all access to their respective festivals and secondary access to festivals outside of their namesake. Each of the aforementioned start at $1,325. With an Interactive badge, festival goers are first in line to all interactive tracks, keynotes, and featured speakers, with secondary access to music and film festival events. The Music festival badge grants priority entry to over 2,000 artist concerts, showcases, music keynotes and events within the festival, with secondary access to film and interactive events. With a film badge, attendees are given primary access to all film screenings, keynotes and events, with secondary access to select music and interactive events. For $350 more, guests can purchase a SXSW Platinum badge, which covers primary access to all SXSW events, parties and showcases regardless of what festival they fall under. Each badge holder will also have access to SXSW gaming, Marketplace, Startup Spotlight, Wellness Expo and Community.